Tubular wick for liquid fuel burners



Oct. 14, 1941. c. w. DAVIS ET AL TUBULAR WICK FOR LIQUID FUEL BURNERSFiled Oct. 1'7, 1938 2 Shee'cs-Sheel l .I1 l. fills! INVENTORS. W D4 W5.

ATTORNE I Coene/v0 BY W44 TEE Oct. 14, 1941. c. w. DAVIS ET Al.

TUBULAR WICK FOR LIQUID FUEL BURNERS Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 17, 1958INVENTUM. C'o/QTLHND W @4V/5. WAL 72",@ EN H.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 14, 1941 4liriTfElvT OFFICE 2,259,246 j Y TUBULAR WicKFoRLIQUID FUEL BURNERS Cortland W. Davis and Walter B. Engh, Alexandria,Ind., assignors to The Mantle Lamp Company of America, Chi

Illinois cago, Ill., a corporation of Application October 17, 1938,Serial No. .235,446` In Great Britain January 4,` 1938 10 Claims.

This invention pertains to tubular wicks for use with burnersparticularly adapted for use with blue-flame heating and cooking4stoves.

It is an object of the invention to produce a wick particularly adaptedfor burners for heating and cooking purposes, and Which will rapidlyfeed a large quantity of liquid fuel per unit of time to the flame ofthe burner.

It is a further object of the invention to produce a wick of the kinddescribed, for use with wick operating mechanism containedbetween theupper and lower ends of the body of the burner used therewith, for anyoperative position of the wick in the burner, and vin addition, as afurther object, to construct said wick so its operating mechanismconnections may be projected below the base of the burner when it isdesired to attach the wick to or disconnect the same from said operatingmechanism.

It is afurther object of the invention to produce atubular wick havingacontinuous annular upper portion and a lower portion slit in line withthe side draft passages of a burner when in place therein, whereby thewick tails so formed extend downwardly through the burner `between saiddraft passages, certain of said tails carrying reinforcing members forattachment at their lower ends with the wick operating mechanism of theburner, which members extend upwardly and are connected at their upperends with the continuous annular upper portion of the wick, whereby thewick operating forces are communicated to the portion of the wick thatwill not be deformed by said forces, and reliable and definite operationof the wick will result from actuation of the wick operating mechanism.

The above and other objects ol the invention willmore fully appear byreference to theaccompanying drawings illustrating preferred embodimentsof said wick and also illustrating a burner with which the wick isadapted to be used, in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical, sectional View ofthe burner with the improved wickin place therein,

Fig. 2 shows in perspective view, one .form of the wick construction ofthe invention, adapted for use with the burner illustrated in Fig. 1,

Figs. 3 and 4 are respectively side and front elevations of the wicktailreinforcing strip shown in Fig. 2 before its application to a wick,

Fig. 5 is a vertical, sectional `view to an enlarged scale through thewick tail shown in Fig. 2 as equipped with a reinforcing strip, takenalong the line 5-5 in the latter iigure, and

Figs; 6 and 7 show in views similar to Fig. 2, modified constructions ofthe wick.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.5f. j As shown in Fig. 1, the burner includes an inner wick tube IUhaving 'a lower end wall Illa, and provided at its upper end with aflame spreader I I. The lower portion of the inner wick tube I0 -issecured to a tubular support I2 for the Lo: outer wick tube, by aplurality of flat radial tubes I3 forming side draft passages into theinner wick 4tube to supply thereto the air required for the'propercombustion of the inside of the llame. The tubular support I2 is spacedsubstantially 12,5; from the wick tube I0 so that thelower portion olthe wick, and the wick operating devices may move vertically and freelyin the space thus formed. The tubes I3 are relatively narrow and high sothat little obstruction will be offered to 2o; the movement of the wickan-d `that at the same time a substantial quantity of air will besupplied to the inside of the wick tube IQ. The tubular support I2 isconnected at its lower end with an inturned ange on the lower end of theburner base I4 which is provided with perforations to supply air to thetubes I3 and also through the burner to the outside of the iiame.

The burner also includes an outerwick tube IS surrounding the inner wicktube I0 and spaced at Sgits upper end from the inner wick tube by anamount substantially equal to the thickness of theannular wick 20 usedwith the burner. Be-l low the wick guiding portion of the tube IS, sai-dtube is enlarged and extended downwardly and shouldered adjacent itslower end to rest on the upper end of the tubular support I2.

The outer wick tube I6, the name flange I 'I thereon, the supporttherefor comprising a conical and perforated air distributor I 8, andthe as- 493 sembly including the gallery deck I9 and attached outer andinner burner cones I9a and 2I and thechimney ange 22, are of knownconstruction, for example,'substantially of the construction and for thepurposes shown and de-v lig, scribed in U. S. Reissue Patent #18,061 anddated May l5, `1931.

The wick 20, as more clearly shown in Fig. 2, is provided with acontinuous tubular portion at its upper end below which the wick issplit longik tudinally to divide the lower portion of the wick intotails 26a, preferably o'f equal Width, the slits being inalignment withthe air tubes I3 when the wick is in the burner, so that the tails 20awill pass through the lower portion of the burner `between said airtubes. `In the drawings, six air tubes I3 and six tails 20a on the wick20 are indicated, but it will be understood that any other number of airtubes and tails may be employed if preferred in any case.

As shown in Fig. l, opposite ones of the tails 20a have secured to themstiif longitudinal reinforcing and operating metal strips 23. As moreclearly shown in Fig. 2 for one of said strips 23, the strip is securedto the corresponding wick tail 20a by prongs 23a carried by the lowerend portion of the strip and extending through said tail and clinched tosecure the parts together.

An eyelet 24 also extends through the lower end portion of the strip 23and the wick'tail, which,V

besides aiding in holding the strip and wick tail together, forms asocket for receiving a part of the wick operating mechanism as belowdescribed. As vshown in Fig. 2, the lower part of the continuous tubularupper portion of the wick 20, is surrounded by a reinforcingvandstiffening band 20h, preferably of'rm thin fabric, and the upper end ofthe strip 23. extends above the lower edge of said band, the upper endportion of the strip being provided with prongs 23h which extend throughthe said band and wick and are clinched to tightly hold the strip andthe wick together. As a result of this construction, any wick operatingforces exerted vertically on the eyelets 24 by the wick operatingmechani-sm, are communicated by the strips' 23 to the upper continuousannular and reinforcedrportion of the wick 20 which is capable ofwithstanding the said forces without deformation, partly becauseV of theupper continuous portion of the wick being relatively stable per se, andpartly because: 'of said portion being. positively supported between theouter wick tube I6 and the inner wick tube ID. If the wick operatingforces were applied directly to the wick tails 20a at the locations ofthe eyelets 24, without stiening the tails, the desired operation of thewick would not result, because of the loose or flexible'nature of thetails 20a resulting from the wick being made up of fibers looselyVtwisted and loosely fabricated. Y y

As shown in Fig. 1, the wick operating mechanism includes a verticalrack guide 25 disposed in the inner wick tube I0 and extending justthrough the bottom wall Illa of said wick tube, to which bottom wall itis rigidly secured. Said guide contains a vertically movable rack bar 25which meshes with a pinion 21 secured to the inner` end portion of ahorizontal shaft or rod 28.

The pinion is mounted in a housing 29 secured to the upper end portionofthe rack guide 25. A bracket 3B between the housing 29 and the innerwick tube l!) gives stable support. to the upper end of the rack guide25.

The upper end of the rack bar 26 has rigidly secured thereto, forexample; by a rivet 33, by

soldering or other desired means, the mid-portion of a bentwick-operating bar 34 having substantially parallel side membersextending towards the bottom wall 20a of the inner wick tube l0, whichside members are bent to clear the rack guide 25, the housing 29 and thebracket 30, and adjacent the bottom wall [0a of the inner wick tube theend portions v34a of4 24 and threaded to receive with a tight fit,internally threaded thumb nuts 35 to hold the wick tails and theirreinforcing strips 23 securely in engagement with the wick operating bar34, the thumb nuts 35 being of a thickness or length smaller than thespace between the wick and the tubular support l2, so that they may movefreely vertically in operating the wick, the ends of the wick operatingbar 34 preferably being ush with the outer faces of the thumb nuts 35.The wick operating bar 34 and the rack bar 216 are so proportioned thatwhen a new and unused Wick is in its operating position, the endportions 34a of the wick operating bar are substantially in or slightlyabove the plane of the bottom wall lila. of the inner wick tube l0, theslots -Ic permitting the wick operating bar to be moved upwardly as thewick is burned from continued use. For the lower position of the bar 34just referred to, the thumb nuts 35 are between the lower end portionsof the inner wick tube l0 and the tubular support l2, and to permit theready removal of the thumb nuts 35 for the purpose of removing an oldwick and inserting a new one, the rack bar 25 is constructed to move thewick operating bar 34 an additional amount downwardly so that the thumbnuts 35 will be clear of the lower ends of the inner wick tube Il) andtubular support l2. To permit this additional movement the slots IQc areextended into the outer portion of the bottom wall lila of the innerwick tube IB, to clear the horizontal end portions 34a of the wickoperating bar, for wick changing purposes.

After the rack bar 26 is assembled in place as described, one or'more ofthe lower teeth of the said vrack bar are preferably riveted or deformedas indicated at 26a in Fig. l, to prevent moving the rack bar upwardlyfrom engagement with the pinion 21.

`The wicks are provided with the reinforcing strips 23 and eyelets 24,or are otherwise providedV as described with stifening means and withseparable connection means for cooperation with the Ywick operatingmechanism of a burner, in

connection withmanufacturing said wicks, so that they are ready forinstallation in the burners when new wicks are needed therein.

Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate one of the reinforcing strips 23 before itsapplication to a wick, to show a manner in which the prongs 23a and 23hmay be formed integrally with the reinforcing strip. Fig. 5 illustratesthe advantage of the use of the reinforcing strips 23, the length of thecontinuous tubular portion of the wick 2i) being designated W, and theintended amount of burning of the wick being indicated by w, leaving aportion w1 of the continuous portion of the wick that is still availablein a completely used wick, to cooperate with the stiifening band 25h inengaging the prongs 23D so that the wick may be positively movedvertically even after the intended amount of the wick has been consumed.

Fig. 6 illustrates a wick 20c having a continuous, tubular upper endportion and split tails 20d similar to the wick 2U and tails 20a abovedescribed, but in this case, the reinforcing means 26e surrounding thelower part of the continuous tubular portion of thewick, extends down at2Uf onto the upper end portions of the tails 20d to reinforce the tailsas well as the continuous tubular portion of the wick. In this case,operating strips similar to the strips 23 above described, may beemployed as illustrated for one of said strips at 23e, which strip asshown, is secured to the upper end portion'of one of the tails 26d, byclinched prongs 23d extending through the correspending tail extension26j of the reinforcing means e, said strip 23o being provided with aneyelet 24a at its lower end for engagement with the wick operatingmechanism, no connecting prongs being shown at the lower endof thestrip, since said lower prongs may-be omitted in any case, if preferred.

It will be understood that the strips 23 or the strips 23c'or theirequivalents, should in any caseA where they are used, be connected attheir upper end portions with relatively stable po-rtions of the wickstructure to insure proper operation of the wick by any suitable wickoperating mechanism, but that said strips or their equivalents need notin all cases be connected with the tails of the Wick, in which cases theeyelets, if used, need extend only through said strips or theirequivalents to form sockets for the wick bar end portions of the wickoperating mechanism. In somecases, if preferred, the 'strips 23 and 23omay be'omitted, and the wick structure may be stiffened as required foreffective movement by wick operating mechanism by continuing theextensions 29j of the reinforcing means 20e down the wick tails andsecuring said extensions thereto, or by impregnation with suitablechemical compounds, for example, compounds of phenol or cresol asdisclosed in U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,570,666 which issued January 26,1926, to Joseph Geppert. Where the wicks are stilened by chemicalimpregnation, as illustrated by the wick Z'iig in Fig. 7, portions ofthe wick may be provided with eyelets, or with openings constitutingsockets, or with any other desired form of separable connection meansfor cooperation with the wick operating mechanism of a burner, withoutthe use of other stiffening or force transmitting means, for example,certain of the tails 29h of the wick may be provided with eyelets 24D toconstitute said sockets.

It will be noted that the connection means disclosed for cooperationwith the wick operating mechanism, are located substantially midwaybetween the upper and lower ends of the wick structure.

It will be understood that, if preferred, the wick structure may bereinforced by the conjoint use of the mechanical means. and theimpregnawhere the burners are provided with wick operating mechanismsengaging the wick structures substantially below their upper endportions and where with split or tailed wicks, said engagement mightotherwise be with flexible portions of the Wicks.

The burner construction per se which is above described, is not claimedin the present application, as it constitutes the subject matter of ourseparate application, Serial No. 235,445 filed October 17, 1938.

While we have shown our invention in the particular embodimentdescribed, it will be understood we do not limit ourselves thereto as wemay employ equivalents thereof without departing from the scope of theappended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

l. A wick having a continuous and tubular upper portion and tailsseparate from each other and extending downward from said tubular porlintion; said wick being relatively rigid adjacent the upper ends of saidtails and relatively flexible belowsaid relatively rigid portion, stiffoperating strips permanently connected at their upper ends with therelatively rigid wick portion and extending downward adjacent therelatively flexible tail portions, and eyelets extending through andconnecting the lower end portions of said strips and the adjacentrelatively flexible tail portions, said eyelets comprising sockets forcooperation with the wick operating mechanism of a burner.

2. A tubular wick unit including in combination a tubular Aand tailedwick having a relatively rigid upper portion and a relatively exiblelower portion, and a stiff operating element extending from therelatively rigid wick portion downward along the relatively flexiblewick portion for readily separable cooperation with the wick operatingmechanism of a burner adapted for use with said wick, said operatingelement having relatively fixed connection with said relatively rigidupper portion intended to last unchanged and be permanent for the lifeof said wick and of such kind as to constitute said wick and saidelement a unitary article of manufacture.

3. A tubular' wick unit including in combination a tubular and tailedwick having a relatively rigid upper portion and a relatively flexiblelower portion, and stiff operating strips extending from the relativelyrigid wick portion downward along the relatively flexible wick portion,said operating strips having relatively xed connection with saidrelativelyrigid upper portion intended to last unchanged and bepermanent for the life of said wick and of such kind as to constitutesaid wick and said strips a unitary article of manufacture, said stripshaving openings at their lower end portions for readily separablecooperation with the wick operating mechanism of a burner adapted foruse with said wick.

4. A tubular wick unit including in combination a tubular and tailedwick having a relatively rigid upper portion and a relatively flexiblelower portion, and two stiif operating strips extending l fromdiametrically opposite portions of the relatively rigid wick portiondownward along the relatively flexible wick portion, said operatingstrips having relatively iixed connection with said relatively rigidupper portion intended to last unchanged and be permanent for the lifeof said wick and of such kind as to constitute said wick and said stripsa unitary article of manufacture, said strips having openings at theirlower end portions for readily separable cooperation with the wickoperating mechanism of a burner adapted for use with said wick.

5. A tubular wick unit including in combination a tubular and tailedwick having a relatively rigid upper portion and a relatively flexiblelower portion, and a stiff operating element extending from therelatively rigid Wick portion downward along the relatively flexiblewick portion for readily separable cooperation with the wick operatingmechanism of a burner adapted for use with said wick, said operatingelement having relatively iixed connection with said relatively rigidupper portion and also with said relatively flexible lower portionintended to last unchanged and be permanent for the life of said wickand of such kind as to constitute said wick and said element a unitaryarticle of manufacture.

6. A tubular wick unit including in combination a tubular and tailedwick having a relatively rigid upper portion and a relatively exiblelower portion, and stiff operating strips extending from the relativelyrigid wick portion downward along the relativelypflexible wick portion,said operating strips having relatively xed connection with saidrelatively rigid upper portion and also with said relatively flexiblelower portion intended to last unchanged and be permanent for the lifeof said wick and of such kind as to constitute said wick and said stripsa unitary article of manufacture, said strips having openings at theirlower end portions for readily separable cooperation with the wickoperating mechanism of a burner adapted for use with said wick.

7. A tubular wick unit including in combination a tubular and tailedwick having a relatively rigid upper portion and a relatively flexiblelower portion, and two still operating strips extending-v `8. A tubularwick unit including in combination a tubular and tailed wick having arelatively rigid upper portion and a relatively ilexible lower portion,stiff operating strips extending from the relatively rigid wick portiondownward along the relatively flexible wick portion, said voperatingstrips having relatively fixed connection with said relatively rigidupper portion intended to lastunchanged and be permanent for the life ofsaid wick and of such kind as to constitute said wick and said strips aunitary article of manufacture, and headed eyelets extending through thelower end portions of said strips and also through said relativelyilexible lower portion, the heads on said eyelets holding said strips inengagement with said relatively flexible lower portion, said eyeletsalso comprising sockets for cooperation with the wick operatingmechanism of a burner adapted for use with said Wick. f

9. A tubular wick unit including in combination a tubular wick having arelatively rigid upper portion and a relatively flexible lower portion,and stiflening means comprising a unitary part of the structure andhaving xed engagement with said relatively rigid portion and extendingtherefrom lengthwise of the-wick and down said lower portion forattachment with the wick operating mechanism of a burner adapted for useCORTLAND W. DAVIS. WALTER B. ENGH.

